Texans Topple Mighty Titans with 13-12 Win to Move to 7-7

The Texans played what will have to go down as their best game of the season, at least on defense, as they held the mighty Titans to 12 points and pulled out a gutsy 13-12 victory to move to 7-7. The Texans D held the Titans to 281 yards, 13 first downs, and just 100 yards rushing.

On offense, the Texans knew it would be tough, but they were able to get a second quarter TD as Matt Schaub hit Andre Johnson for a 13-yard score to make it 10-3 Texans. From there, Kris Brown was on, kicking two big field goals that gave the Texans a 13-9 lead late.

The Titans had a shot down 13-12 with 3:55 left. They went 51 yards in 7 plays, but on 4th-and-3 from the Texans 32 with 1:55 left, they went for it instead of trying to kick a long field goal. The gamble didn’t pay off for Jeff Fisher, as a deep pass was just out of reach for Brandon Jones.

On the first play of the next possession, Steve Slaton broke off a big 34-yard run, basically sealing the win as the Texans were able to run out the clock from there. Slaton ended the day with 100 yards on 24 carries (4.2 per carry). The Texans D held Chris Johnson to just 65 yards on 13 carries, and LenDale White had just 26 yards on 8 carries.

Matt Schaub was 23-for-39 for 284 yards with a TD and a QB rating of 90.1. Kerry Collins was held in check by the Texans D, going just 15-for-33 for 181 yards with a pick and a QB rating of 50.2. Andre Johnson was all-world again, catching 11 passes for 207 yards and a score. Another key was the time of possession, as the Texans held the ball for 36:22 to just 23:38 for Tennessee.

The Texans will look to end the year 9-7 with two more wins and they would then end the year with a franchise high six-game winning streak. Next week they will be in Oakland vs the Raiders.